Elizabeth Warren stumps, raises funds for Duckworth

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is lending support to Rep. Tammy Duckworth’s (D-Ill.) Senate bid, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. 

On Friday, Warren will join actress Nora Dunn, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in Chicago for a joint fundraiser supporting both Duckworth and the DSCC. 

{mosads}The progressive firebrand will also stump for the Illinois congresswoman at a “retirement security roundtable” in Chicago in an appeal to seniors. They will address President Obama’s fiduciary rule, which would impose stricter rules on retirement investment advisers. 

Duckworth’s opponent, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), opposes the rule, and he has previously sponsored legislation that would require Congress to sign off on any such rulemaking. 

Warren and Duckworth have teamed up in the past and introduced legislation late last year that would help veterans and seniors by providing them with a one-time payment for those who did not receive a cost-of-living-adjustment this year. 

The Massachusetts senator has continued to remain neutral in the Democratic presidential primary. 

Duckworth will square off against Kirk in what is considered to be one of the most competitive and expensive Senate races this cycle. Kirk faces an uphill battle for reelection in a left-leaning state Obama won in both his 2008 and 2012 elections. 

Duckworth has been leading the GOP senator in recent polls, and she has about $750,000 more in the bank, according to first quarter fundraising reports from 2016. 

Democrats need to net five Senate seats in 2016 to regain a majority in the upper chamber — unless they retain the White House. Then a net gain of four seats would give them the majority, with the vice president breaking a 50-50 tie.

Democrats are considered to have an advantage in that they are only defending 10 Senate seats, while the GOP is defending 24 seats.